Underappreciated Actresses: Laura Dern

Some actresses manage to carve out indie careers that should be applauded. They avoid the usual Hollywood bullshit scripts ("She's blind! But she's also Scarlett Johanssen! And she's on a sinking ship! But of course, she will be the only survivor because her enormous breasts will allow her to stay afloat until help arrives! Coming: Summer 2010!") They pick out roles that pay far less, but choose to work with better directors. Sometimes they are forced into a major blockbuster or two to pay bills, but their entire daily focus does not seem to revolve around grabbing a Chai Latte at Starbucks in front of Italian paparazzi.

I think I'll start a category of these actresses. Of course, my first choice was Anna Nicole Smith, whose morphine-induced utterance of the iconic line "Like my body?" is one for the ages. Then I realized that was completely misogynistic and tasteless, and she's also never starred in a movie, so I scrapped that idea.

Next, I went to Laura Dern. Laura Dern kicks so much ass. She's basically the very cool older aunt that I always wanted, the artist or A&R rep for a major record label or a successful writer who would drop in and out of my life, and send me cool postcards and the best new CDs from bands I had never heard of before.

Her movie choices rock. Here's a sample:

1. Citizen Ruth: She plays a single, knocked-up woman considering having an abortion, whose entire pregnancy turns into a farce and parody. It's the only movie I've ever seen that makes fun of both the pro-choice and pro-life movements at the same time, and it's the first movie written and directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt, Election). Laura Dern is fantastic -- she is a woman pulled in all directions, and one whose own personal choices are poor at best, but she's never melodramatic, just basically bemused by all the attention that her one choice brings to others who have never met her.

2. Wild at Heart: The best of the three David Lynch movies she starred in. It also involves Nicholas Cage, and various shenanigans that are best viewed on screen because they are so bananas that I can't describe them in detail here (Sara Mieckowski can back me up on this)

3. Recount: This was a TV movie released just this year, but she plays a SPOT-ON version of Katherine Harris during the 2000 presidential election recall, one that is surprisingly sympathetic to a woman who has become nothing more than a caricature in American politics. Bonus points for Kevin Spacy being in the movie playing famed laywer David Boies.

4. We Don't Live Here Anymore: She didn't get an Oscar nomination for this, but damn well should have. It's a nasty movie. In one 5-10 minute scene, she turns the tables on her cheating husband by emasculating him about his terrible skills at work, at home, and in bed so badly that he literally crumples into a puddle of tears. It's phenomenal, and so is the rest of her performance.

Yeah, Laura Dern was in the Jurassic Park movies, but they weren't THAT bad, and a girl has to eat, right? But I love her and hope that she'll continue to make really interesting, dynamic choices for movie roles.